NASA releases 1.5 gigapixel photo of the Andromeda galaxy

[meridannight]

It wouldn't go supernova eventually if our galaxy was left alone?

no. it doesn't have enough mass. it will die as a white dwarf. eventually lights out, and it will be gone.

[JackTX]

no. it doesn't have enough mass. it will die as a white dwarf. eventually lights out, and it will be gone.

I want my money back!

Thanks for the info

[Hardheaded1]

Thank you for posting the link.

As for alone or not, if they arrived tomorrow, I'd be glad to give them the extra room upstairs; however, I do not attach a philosophy to whether the heavens are inhabited or not. It is a wondrous place, full of fascinating variations and worlds. The fact that we live in a day in which discovery and speculations are changing based upon actual evidence gathered is thrilling.

Mathematical probabilities do not equate to certainty of occurrence. And for that matter, until we find at least one living thing away from home, it is entirely possible we have missed some inscrutable factor that contributed to our paradise here. It will be incredible if we ever find so much as a virus in my lifetime, but until we do, it's pure and relatively immature theory.

I do not look up and pine for companions or fancied creatures, any more than when I see molecules or microorganisms. It is a bit skewed to assume that worlds our size or larger are the one that hold promise or even life, but not the nano-worlds that we are discovering every day.

Even if I only found comfort in humanity, there are at least seven billion reasons why I should not look up and feel alone.

[Hardheaded1]

Awwwwwww! I wanted to be blowed up by the sun! NO FAIR!

You're awfully damned picky about how you want to be blowed.

I have an indecent telescope but the mount froze up and I either need to re-grease it (*snort*) or buy a new one. Suckers aren't cheap either!

Some of us are. :p

*pulls down the shades*

And what ARE you snorting? Hell, for that matter, what are you on about greasing and remounting?

[oreosplz93]

Makes you think how little we are in this world lol. Not trying to be pessimistic BUTTTTTT tis true.

[meridannight]

nuh uh,





“The beauty of a living thing is not the atoms that go into it, but the way those atoms are put together.”
― Carl Sagan, Cosmos


human beings are not 'little', and stars 'great'. we can feel, think, create, etc. stars can't do any of that. i always find it weird that people attribute smallness to human beings simply due to great distances of space. i never felt small looking at the stars. human race with its culture, art, and science has always impressed me far more than vast scales of space. i'd rather be a human being than a supernova.

[Cuddly]

Makes you think how little we are in this world lol. Not trying to be pessimistic BUTTTTTT tis true.

Exactly! Meanwhile we're fussing over meaningless things like religion, sexuality and borders.

[meridannight]

and i found the quote i was looking for for this thread. thought it was Carl Sagan, but it was Bertrand Russell instead:

''Where I seem to differ from some of my friends is in attaching little importance to physical size. I don't feel the least humble before the vastness of the heavens. The stars may be large, but they cannot think or love; and these are qualities which impress me far more than size does. I take no credit for weighing nearly seventeen stone.
My picture of the world is drawn in perspective, and not like a model to scale. The foreground is occupied by human beings and the stars are all as small as threepenny bits''.

i fully agree with Russell on this one.

[oreosplz93]

Awesome way to look at that.

[dynamodean]

Thanks for sharing...it was wonderful to ponder and reflect. I loved astronomy as a little kid and could name the largest bodies (planets and satellites/moons) in descending order of mass. As a man now, my thoughts have turned more philosophical. Great find.